O'Connor: Holiday Accommodation Parks of NZ

Thank you for your invitation to
once again open your annual conference, it’s great to be
here.

I’d like to acknowledge Fergus, Steve and the
HAPNZ Board for their hard work and commitment to the sector
over the past year.

There has been some great progress
made in the tourism industry since I spoke at your
conference this time last year.

We launched the New
Zealand Tourism Strategy to 2015 last year, which will guide
how we develop the tourism industry over the next seven
years. The Strategy makes sustainable business practices
central to the future vision for our industry. Its actions
and recommendations seek to ensure that, through to 2015 and
beyond, New Zealand’s tourism sector delivers a world
class visitor experience. Tourism will boost prosperity,
attract ongoing investment and take a leading role in
protecting and enhancing the environment. And increasingly,
communities and regions will recognise and value the
benefits of tourism. That is our strategic direction.

The
Strategy also sets out what we need to do, together, to
overcome the challenges ahead. And I emphasise the word
‘together’ because in the tourism industry, we cannot go
out on our own. Our tourism product is 100% Pure New
Zealand, our landscape, our people, our culture. For our
strategy to succeed, we need buy-in right across the
economy. We need each and every New Zealander to understand
how important tourism is to this country.

I’m pleased to
be able to say that we have huge support for the Strategy
across government and from the private sector. In fact, Rod
Oram said it was arguably the best industry strategy we have
in New Zealand. The Ministry of Tourism, Tourism New
Zealand and the Tourism Industry Association (the Royal we),
have recently drafted a detailed plan to guide the
implementation of the Strategy to 2015. The plan sets out
the “who” and “when” for each of the Strategy’s 92
actions.

I’m pleased that you, the holiday parks
sector, have recently developed your own Strategy to 2015
and it is great to see that it closely aligns with the
Tourism Strategy at the national level.

Holiday parks are
the first sub-sector to formally demonstrate commitment to
the national-level goals and it’s great to have your
strong support.

Both strategies are underpinned by two
key values – kaitiakitanga and manaakitanga.

These
concepts have been summarised as ‘guardianship’ and
‘hospitality’, however their full meanings have a wider
range and depth.

Kaitiakitanga refers to our
responsibility for the preservation and promotion of our
environment, people and culture. Manaakitanga refers to the
care, engagement and hospitality we show our guests, on the
basis of mutual respect between host and visitor.

While
these are traditional Maori values, they resonate globally.
I don’t believe any other tourism industry in the world
has embraced indigenous concepts in this way. They
differentiate us in the world, and can inspire visitors. We
want visitors to return to their home town and tell others
about how they experienced these values first hand.

You
might be wondering what it means on a practical, every day
level, to implement kaitiakitanga and manaakitanga, and how
you can work to achieve the vision set out for a sustainable
and growing holiday park sector.

Sector-specific guides
have been developed to help operators implement the
recommendations of the New Zealand Tourism Strategy. The
guides outline the ways you can support the shared aims of
the Strategy and the New Zealand Holiday Parks Strategy of
creating a sustainable tourism industry that delivers
maximum benefit with as few unwanted effects as
possible.

I am pleased to be officially launching the
guides here today, and I have copies of the accommodation
guides for you to take away. In the interests of
sustainability, we’ve also put them on the New Zealand
Tourism Strategy website.

So far, the four-page guides
have been developed for three sectors – accommodation and
hospitality, transport, and visitor activities. I’m sure
you’ll find them useful as a checklist to tick off the
actions you are already doing, and find out what else you
can do as you develop and strengthen your businesses.

Some
of the tips are detailed and specific. Others will require
you, either individually or as members of HAPNZ, to work out
how best to implement them in your community, or within the
holiday parks sector.

And because our strategies are so
closely aligned, I am certain that implementing the tips
given in the guides, will also help you to achieve the
vision of your Strategy for the holiday parks sector
too.

Operating sustainably is no longer optional. In
today’s world, it is essential for business success.
Doing what we can to protect, or preferably enhance, our
natural environment, will also reward us financially,
ensuring the industry’s economic sustainability too.

It
is New Zealand’s natural environment that underpins one of
the most successful country tourism brands in the world –
‘100% Pure New Zealand’.

But here in New Zealand, and
around the world, there is much greater attention than ever
before on human impacts on the environment. Our 100% Pure
brand promise means we have to do all we can to protect our
environment. International visitors will increasingly seek
information to make sure their choices are ethical and
sustainable. To deliver on this image and protect what New
Zealand families have always enjoyed, we need to take
credible and visible steps to reduce our environmental
impact and improve our environmental management.

Some of
you may have heard me talk at the national tourism
conference last year about research which shows that around
a third of New Zealanders have purposely avoided buying from
companies because of that company’s impact on society or
the environment. The research also showed that up to 1.4
million New Zealanders say they will pay a premium for
products and services which have a positive social or
environmental benefit.

What these results highlight is an
increasing expectation by New Zealanders, as well as our
international visitors, that businesses will act responsibly
to address these issues. Thanks in part to the great work of
the AA and Regional Tourism Organisations throughout the
country, domestic tourism still makes up more than half of
our tourism spending, and 70% of visitor nights at holiday
parks, so we must listen to this feedback.

I know that in
some ways I’m preaching to the converted today, as many of
you are already leaders in environmental sustainability.

But there are always things we can do, every day, to make
changes to the way we operate our business.

I would
also like to briefly mention an idea that I am floating with
industry at present around an environmental levy for
overseas visitors coming to New Zealand. The money
collected would go into environmental infrastructure and it
would be focused on wider industry good projects. It would
be an open and transparent fund that would be managed by an
independent group including representatives from the
industry and central government. Any such levy would also
deserve promotion on the basis that we would be using money
for environmental protection to underpin our 100% Pure New
Zealand brand that is something to be proud of and marketed
accordingly. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on
such a levy.

I’d like to take this opportunity to
endorse the HAPNZ data collection programme which I
understand is being launched later today. Good data is
vital to help make well-informed, strategic business
decisions. And I know you’ll find the ability to benchmark
against each other extremely valuable.

It’s great to
see an industry group recognising its needs in this area,
and getting a system up and running, while ensuring that
there is alignment with other sectors and what is going on
at the national level. I’d like to congratulate Fergus
and the HAPNZ Board on this achievement.

I look forward to
working with HAPNZ to help achieve our common goals.

I
see the New Zealand Tourism Strategy to 2015, together with
your Strategy 2015, as providing an excellent framework to
help one another achieve this.

I’m sure
that, together, we can achieve a truly sustainable nation
that enjoys economic, environmental, social and cultural
well-being.

While escalating oil prices will provide a
challenge for tourism and every other industry in this
country it is a challenge faced across the globe and our
ability to compete will depend, as always, on delivering a
better product than our competitors.

We are well
positioned internationally with our 100% Pure NZ brand with
very high levels of visitor satisfaction so the challenge is
to continue to deliver an authentic, educational and
inspiring visitor experience.

Holiday parks are
perfectly positioned to deliver on that authentic experience
for both international visitors and Kiwis wanting to find
out more about our wonderful country. I have no doubt you
will continue to play a large part in our tourism
industry’s future and reap the rewards of a decent return
for your efforts.

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